Star Configurations are Set-Theoretic Complete Intersections

Abstract

Let $\mathcal A\subset\mathbb P^{k-1}$ be a rank $k$ arrangement of $n$ hyperplanes, with the property that any $k$ of the defining linear forms are linearly independent (i.e., $\mathcal A$ is called $k-$generic). We show that for any $j=0,\ldots,k-2$, the subspace arrangement with defining ideal generated by the $(n-j)-$fold products of the defining linear forms of $\mathcal A$ is a set-theoretic complete intersection, which is equivalent to saying that star configurations have this property.